Trump to increase defense spending 10 percent

WASHINGTON. President Donald Trump is reportedly looking to increase defense spending about 10 percent, adding about $54 billion in funding for defense and security while taking the same amount away from non defense programs, according to a CNN report you can read here.

According to the CNN story Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said the administration “will increase defense spending to $603 billion and decrease non-defense discretionary spending to $462 billion.”

What this means for the defense electronics is hard to say at this point as a detailed budget is still about a month away. That said, if President Trump increases funding for electronics-heavy programs that were adversely affected by Sequestration it will be quite good for our little niche of the world.

Attendees at the AFCEA West show in San Diego last month were quite optimistic about the current administration plans for increase military spending even before this news broke.

“Going forward the Trump administration will breathe new life into the DoD industry not only with increased procurement and research and development budgets, but with an increased focus on small businesses,” said Ben Sharfi, CEO of General Microsystems in this month’s COTS Confidential roundtable. “I’ve been asked to sit on a Trump administration committee that will focus enabling small and medium sized businesses to be more involved in winning DoD contracts and in the long run creating more jobs. It’s an exciting time and General Microsystems is thrilled to be a continued part of it.”

Speaking in the same article, Mike McCormack, President of Chassis Plans, expressed similar enthusiasm. “I think the climate is moving toward one of more investment in military electronics technology, which will be good for the economy,” he said. “They need to allocate more funding just to maintain and sustain current programs, which is good for this industry. Everyone I speak with is busy and the current administration is forecasting an increase in the 2017 budget.”